Blood and Sun
by StephenDA
Summary: Updated and retouched for your reading pleasure! Xander is sent to South Africa to recruit Slayers, but finds out that that is easier said than done, as he comes face to face with powerfull new, and not so new enemies. full summary inside. Xover with Ange
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** You know the drill. I don't own any of the established characters from any of the shows mentioned here, they all belong to there respective owners. I'm not making any money of off this, or off anything else actually, so suing me would just be a huge waste of everybody's time.

**Notes from me:** Ok. So I tried this in 2004, and I think I had a good thing going. I had five chapters all written and ready for uploading, I was feeling positive about the fic, reviews were good… and then I had a break in and my computer was stolen.

Anyway, its now 2006, I have a new computer, absolutely no social life, no steady income, grey hairs, and I'm only 22. The obvious thing to do is finish the Fic, no?

UPDATE!!!! AHG! I got myself a lovely 'lil virus a few months back, and had to format the computer. Luckily I could just copy my past chapters from and past them into Word. Pity I only remembered that after rewriting three chapters. Ok, so here it is again, this time with slight changes for easier reading

Well, as mentioned by Andrew, the Scooby's had split up and gone to different parts of the world, I'm presuming to look for new slayers, and it was mentioned that Xander was in Africa. And since I'm in Africa, South Africa more specifically, I thought Id venture into the world of fan fiction after lurking for a couple years. This will be a crossover with Angel, but we won't see them for a little while. I will most probably bring it all together and tie in to Angel's finale. Oh, one more thing. Since SA (South Africa) has eleven official languages, and different dialects through out the country, I will add an whenever another language is being used, as it would be too convenient for all the slayers to be English speaking.

**Summery:** In an effort to reach more slayers around the world, Xander is sent to South Africa to recruit a number of slayers. It sounds easy enough… and that alone should tell you things aren't going to go smoothly.

**Blood and Sun**

**By StephenDA**

**Chapter One: **

It was going to happen again. He could sense it beginning; feel its destructive power building up inside of him.

"No. No, not again!" He thought, stricken with fear.

He placed his hand on the wall in front of him for support, hoping it would be quick this time, and less violent.

"Ohh crap!" He spluttered, as an explosive force ripped through him.

"Sir? Sir are you ok?" Came the timid voice of the flight assistant through the door of the restroom.

"Yeah, yeah, Just peachy thanks." Xander replied. Under his breath he cursed her and the airline but mostly he cursed Giles for buying him a Business Class seat, and by default, giving him access to the seafood platter that was turning him into the human vomit machine.

"He planned this, I know he did." Xander muttered as he washed his face and mouth, feeling a little better.

He opened the door to find the short, plump flight attendant who had been looking after him since he first felt the onset of the "seafood madness" as he had duded it. She looked worriedly at him and pressed two tablets into his hand,

"Take these and try and rest, we will be landing in five hours, maybe you can sleep the rest of the way." She said hopefully.

"Hmm, I doubt that, but thanks."

Xander strode over to his seat and dumped himself in it, very un-businessman like, earning a few scowls from the surrounding passengers.

Oblivious to the glares of distain that were been thrown at him, Xander reached under his chair and pulled out his briefcase, and looked at it for a second.

'Guess I should read up on my mission" He muttered.

He knew basically what needed to be done, but since Giles has started rebuilding the Watchers Council, as well as looking for slayers, he was quite preoccupied and found it easier to send people out on their missions via memo than in person. He was, after all, in Europe once more.

Opening the case was something he had been putting off for the better part of the twenty two hour flight from America to South Africa, partly because the seafood madness took away any hope of focusing on the little number locks on his briefcase, and secondly, when else was he going to be in the Business Class section of an airplane again? He wanted to enjoy himself a little.

"Yeah, right." He thought, "Live the experience, Travel the world and throw up till your head explodes." He thought in his best infomercial voice.

In side the briefcase was a small dictionary of South African dialect, which according to Giles was a little complex and could be confusing to Xander at first. There was a narrow but thick envelope which, apon further inspection, Xander was pleased to find was filled with money, One thousand South African Rands, and a further thousand in American Dollars. It also contained a debit card with a slip of paper baring his pin number.

"Better remember this." Xander thought, and slipped the number into his shirt pocket after reading the number over a few times.

He then took out a larger envelope, and opened it.

"My Mission, should I choose to accept it..." Muttered Xander.

He pulled out about six sheets of paper, and settled in to read. At once he noticed a lot of big words undoubtedly put in by Giles just to scare Xander, so he skipped to the next page, which was much easier on the eyes, or in his case, eye.

"_Hey Xander, I took a look at Giles's first page, and thought It might be a good idea to give you a little abridged version of my own.._

_Basically, what you have to do is:_

_Meet up with Giles's friend (who is an ex-watcher I'm told.) in South Africa, He should be there to meet you at the airport._

_Gather up as many slayers as you can with him. We have some info on them thanks to that little spell I did with Giles, but remember its mostly just names and general locations, so you will have to look around a little._

_Convince them to come back with you so we can train 'em up, and pair them with a new watcher. (We should have enough new recruit watchers by the time you get back.)_

_Now, Xander, this is the most important part of all, OK? Here it is. Bring me back some cool souvenirs!_

_Good luck, I'll see you soon._

_Willow._

Xander couldn't help but smile.

"Thanks Will."

Xander packed away his case, and had just settled down to try and sleep, when he felt a little bout of madness welling up.

"Outta the way people!" He yelled making it to the restroom in only four giant leaps.

Finally, after five painstaking hours in the air since reading up on what he was supposed to do, Xander's plane landed in the Cape Town international airport.

Xander hobbled of the plane clutching his briefcase, tightly, and made his way to the large bus that would transport him to the main area of the airport.

It was a ride that did nothing to alleviate his poor stomach's condition, and he was a lovely shade of green at the end of the journey.

Luckily there was no problem for him at the luggage area, and picked up his two bags quite quickly. He started to look around for Giles's contact, and began to wish he had read through Giles's letter a bit more thoroughly, as he realized he had no idea who he was looking for.

"Hmmm, better look for a description of the guy in the briefcase." Xander said out loud, as he sat down on a bench.

"There's a guy in your briefcase?" A young voice with a strange accent asked him.

"What?" Xander asked, looking around, and then he saw her, a girl of no more than 15 sat next to him. She was so small; he hadn't noticed her sit down next to him. "Huh? Oh, no I... Never mind."

Xander went back to digging around his briefcase when another voice to his left said,

"This him?"

Xander turned and saw the same girl sitting and staring at him, but somehow she looked a little different, older, and a little taller.

"Ja" Came the first voice.

Xander turned and did a double take, then realized...

"Oh! Twins."

"Isn't he a sharp one" the taller girl remarked sarcastically in a language Xander didn't understand. "Are you sure it's him?"

"Of course it's him, do you see any other one eyed Americans around here? And don't be such a cow"

"Riiight. I'm gonna get going now." Xander stood up and began to walk away when the younger girl jumped up and grabbed his arm.

"Xander, wait. Barker sent us; we're here to fetch you."

"Huh? Who's Barker, and how'd you know my name?" Xander asked, feeling confused and a little nauseous.

The taller girl stood up, rolling her eyes.

"Hello? Barker? Our Watcher? Didn't you get a briefing or something? We've been expecting you. Come on, the car is waiting." And without saying another word, she strode of towards the doors leading outside.

"Don't mind her, since we were called she's been walking around with her head firmly lodged up her own... well, she's been full of herself, lets just leave it at that." The smaller girl remarked.

Xander smiled, and picked up his bags.

"Well, you know who I am, so you are?"

"Oh, sorry, I'm Jana, and the Ice Queen down there is Amelia."

"Well, it's nice to meet you. Jana" Xander said, shaking the girl's hand.

"So, twin slayers, that's interesting. How did, um, Barker, find you?" Xander asked as they made there way to the exit.

"Oh, our family has known we were potentials for a long time, and Barker kept an eye on us, even though he said he wasn't part of the watchers anymore. Well, he wasn't until your friend Rupert phoned him a few weeks ago anyway."

"Rupert? Oh, Giles, right. Sorry, I hardly ever hear anyone call him buy his first name. So, where are we going?"

"To his home. We've set up a little camp there for slayers. Barkers very rich, and spends most of his money and time on finding and training new slayers. He also found a coven of talented witches, and persuaded them to join us in looking for more slayers."

"Really? Well, that'll lessen my work load, let's hear it for Barker." Xander said.

As they stepped outside, Xander found himself been led to a very big and very expensive looking jeep.

"Wow, that thing is friggen huge! What kinda car is it?" He asked Jana as they got near it.

Jana was about to answer when another voice, this one with an accent even more alien to Xander, answered him.

"This, my maat, is a custom made, Multi- purpose, bad guy kill'in, monster crushing beast of a machine."

Xander looked to the driver's seat, and saw a girl of about nineteen, sitting lazily at the wheel. Her shoulders were framed by a mass of dreadlocked hair, and she had an air about her that seemed to scream "Slayer".

"_Howzit man_? Name's Jo-Anne, But you can _sommer_ call me Jo, ok?" She said to Xander so speedily he just stared at her.

"Um, I have no idea what you just said. If I could go cross-eyed, I would be right now."

Jo and Jana just laughed, and he and Jana climbed into the back seats, Amelia, who was already seated and had her seatbelt in place, with her arms crossed impatiently, turned and glared at Xander.

"She said her name is Jo-Anne, but you can just call her Jo, Ok? Really if you're going to stay here, make an effort to understand the locals, OK?" She huffed.

At this Jo turned around in her seat and shoot a piercing stare at Amelia, followed by -

"Listen here, you spoiled brat, I don't need you to bloody translate for me, Ok? And watch your manners, from what I've heard, he was helping to save the world while you where still being spoon fed by your nanny! "

And then she turned to Xander, who cringed in expectation of a similar tongue lashing.

"Ag, sorry man, I forget sometimes it's hard for Americans to get the way I speak... Sometime this week I'll give you a lesson in Suid Afrikaanse Taal, Ok?"

Xander smiled, "Sure, thanks."

Then as Jo started the car and pulled out, cutting off two taxis behind her, Xander turned and whispered to Jana,

"What's Taal mean?"

* * *

Ok. Nothing too exciting, but a little set-up is always a good place to start don't you think?

Just to help you guys out a bit, here is a little language key for the first chapter.

Taal – Language

Howzit – an informal greeting used everywhere in South Africa. Pretty much just made up of "how is it going?" Easy no?

Bru – Sorta like the American _Bro._ same meaning basically, just comes from the Afrikaans word for brother.

Maat – Afrikaans version of the English "Mate". Both versions are used fairy extensively here in South Africa.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** You know the drill. I don't own any of the established characters from any of the shows or books mentioned here, they all belong to there respective owners. I'm not making any money of off this, or off anything else actually, so suing me would just be a huge waste of everybody's time.

**Blood And Sun**

**By StephenDA**

They had been on the road for almost two hours now, and Xander, despite wanting to take in every sight and sound on the way, gave into jetlag, and had fallen asleep. He was told by Jana that they where going to Barker's house, which was an old wine farm. It wasn't too far from the city, and big enough to handle all of the slayers needs, from training to accommodation.

Xander was nudged awake by Jana as they neared a pair of very large and very inhospitable iron gates, flanked by tall moss covered walls.

"Amelia, if you would?" Jo asked with mock politeness over her shoulder.

Sighing, Amelia got out the car, and went over to the gates and opened them.

Xander noticed Amelia was eyeing Jo with suspicion. Jo drove slowly past her, through the gates, and then stopped and waited for Amelia to close them. She turned and slowly walked up to the car. Xander was wondering why she was acting like she was about to be attacked, when Jo suddenly spun the wheels, coating Amelia in mud, and sped up the long drive way, laughing like a maniac.

They pulled up to a huge, white, Dutch styled house, surrounded by large oaks. It had a definite "haunted house" quality about it, as far as Xander was concerned.

"Here we are. Home Sweet Home." Said Jana

Xander jumped out the car, and stretched his legs. In the distance, beyond a flimsy little wire fence, he saw around a dozen girls practicing some sort of martial arts. Not too far away, under an enormous Oak tree, he noticed two other girls. One seemed to be encouraging the other to stare at a pencil. He cocked his head, trying to figure out why that looked familiar to him. Then the pencil shot into the air, and disappeared into the leaves of the tree.

"Ah, that's right. Magic for dummies: Lesson one – float a pencil." He thought to himself, remembering seeing Willow and Dawn do something similar in London, before they all went of on their own.

"Let's go inside. I'll introduce you to Barker, and then I should make myself scarce until Amelia calms down. She looks like a _mooi little plaas meisie_, but she has the temper of a – OW!" Jo was cut off mid-sentence, due to a rock colliding with the side of her head.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" Screamed Jo, but she already knew, and started making her way towards a mud covered Amelia, who was standing cross armed and smirking.

"I'll knock that smile of your little head!" Jo seethed, as she came closer to the girl, who now looked a little nervous.

Jo crouched down to duck a wild kick form Amelia, and then sprung forward, grabbed the younger girls shoulders, and propelled herself over Amelia's head with an ease that would make any Olympic athlete envious. Then, using the momentum of her leap, she brought Amelia down on her back, and landed with her elbow jammed threateningly on Amelia's throat.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Came a shout from inside the house. The front door opened, and Sean Connery stepped out. Well, at least to Xander, it looked like Sean Connery. He may have been a little shorter, and his hair a bit darker, but aside from that, Xander thought the resemblance was striking.

Xander noticed Jana had gotten a little closer to him, and looked down, raising a questioning eyebrow.

"I know what you're thinking, but _do not _make any 007 jokes, ok? He hates that." Whispered Jana.

Grinning, Xander assured her that he didn't know what she was talking about.

Barker made his way to the two slayers, who were now standing side by side, looking sheepishly at everything except the fuming Ex-Watcher.

"What did I day? What did I say about you two fighting like that? Isn't it bad enough we have every bloody Vampire, Demon and Witch Doctor in the country hoping to get their hands on you? Do you have to try and kill each other every bloody time I turn my back?" Barker seethed, with a quiet anger that watchers were so good at.

"No Sir" came the reply, from both slayers.

"Do I have to remind you about Tanya, and where that kind of reckless attitude will get you?" Barker asked.

By the way Jana and the other two girls stiffened at the mention of "Tanya", Xander presumed that Barker had just delivered a particularly hard and low blow.

"No sir" Replied Jana. Jo, who looked like she was about to either cry or kill someone, pushed past Barker and the others, and went into the house.

Xander, not sure what to make of what had just happened, slowly walked up to Barker, who now looked like he regretted what he had just said, and held out his hand.

"Hi. I'm Xander." He stated awkwardly.

"Yes. Yes of course, Pleasure to meet you." Said the older man, shaking Xander's hand. "I've heard… interesting things about you. I am Adrian Barker. Feel free to just call me Barker."

"Pleasure to meet you. Giles didn't tell me too much about you though. At first I was worried that he just made you up, so he could ship me off to Africa and get me out of the way."

"Ha! That would defiantly be something ol' Ripper would do. Always been a bit of a rebel, that one. Even once he had joined the Council."

Xander smirked, wondering what exactly constituted being a rebel in the Watchers Council, as he walked over to the car with Barker. He noticed that Jana and his luggage were gone.

"Jana must have taken it all in for you." Barker said. "Come with me to my study and we can talk about what exactly we will be doing for the next few months."

As Xander walked into the house, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that a young witch was magically shaking a tree, causing a number of pencils, and some very annoyed birds, to fall out of it.

* * *

Well, there ya go.

This Chapter was originally part of the first one, but I decided to make it a separate chapter, just to flesh the fic out a bit. And to make it look like I've been working harder than I really have.

Ok, Key:

_mooi little plaas meisie _Pretty little farm girl.

Don't think there was anything else, but if you have any questions...


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** You know the drill. I don't own any of the established characters from any of the shows or books mentioned here, they all belong to there respective owners. I'm not making any money of off this, or off anything else actually, so suing me would just be a huge waste of everybody's time.

**Summery:** In an effort to reach more slayers around the world, Xander is sent to South Africa to recruit a number of slayers. It sounds easy enough… and that alone should tell you things aren't going to go smoothly.

**Blood and Sun**

**By StephenDA**

Xander was sitting a large, elegant room which was stacked full of books. Xander looked around. It was two storied, and reminded him a lot of the library in his old high school.

"Can I offer you something to drink?" Asked Barker

_Martini, shaken, not stirred _"Um, I'll have some Coke if you have some"

"Of course." Replied Barker.

As Barker fumbled around the drinks cabinet, Xander looked around. He noticed that there where several pale patches on the wall, that seemed to form a pattern.

He looked at them for a while before he noticed Barker was holding out a glass to him.

"My father's old hunting trophies hung there once. Disgusting things. Burnt them the minute I was legally the owner of the house."

"What? Like lion's heads or something?" Xander asked as they sat down at the large desk in the center of the room.

"Or something" Barker replied darkly.

After an awkward minute or so of silence, Xander opened his briefcase, and took out the list Giles had given him.

"These are the slayers we know about that are active here in South Africa. There are about thirty two of them, and I see you have yourself a couple already." Xander said, handing the list to Barker.

Barker took the list, and then pulled a pair of glasses out of his coat pocket to read it.

Half way down the list, he grabbed a pen form his desk, and crossed out a name, and then ticked fifteen more.

"There you go. I've cut your job down in half for you. Fifteen of those girls already live here."

Xander took back the list and grinned. "This is great! Only a couple hours here and already I'm ahead of schedule!" He noticed the name that had been scratched out. As he had expected, it was Tanya.

"Tell me about Tanya. What happened to her?" Xander asked

Barker sighed, and drained the last of his whisky from the glass.

"I left the council thirteen years ago, for… how shall I put it? Personal reasons. When I informed them that I would be returning to South Africa, they asked one last favor of me. That I keep an eye on the known potentials living here."

"The twins." Xander stated.

"Indeed. But not only them. There were two other girls whom were known to have the potential to become chosen. One was Jo-Ann, and the other was Tanya. The twins lived in a city called Johannesburg, quite far away from here, and Tanya and Jo-Ann lived in small towns in Kwa-Zulu Natal.

Jana and Amelia come from a rich and supportive family, and despite what Amelia would have you believe, they are both quite happy and well balanced girls.

Jo-Ann, while not from a particularly rich family, had a good life. Luckily for me, and for many of the girls here, she took an interest in the martial arts early on in life. She was one of the few slayers that could properly use the power they had been given."

Barker paused for a minute, glancing at his empty glass. He seemed to be deciding whether or not he needed more whiskey. Apparently he did, as he got up and strode over towards the drinks counter.

Xander watched him curiously, wishing he could read people better. He could feel that there was something strange about the way the old man moved and talked, but he just couldn't put his finger on what it was.

He felt he needed to say something, so he went with the obvious.

"I take it Tanya's childhood wasn't quite a barrel of laughs?"

Barker swallowed a small amount of whiskey, and then refilled the glass to the brim.

"No" He answered, without turning around. Slowly he returned to his desk, set down his glass and continued speaking.

"Tanya's parents were heavy drinkers. They weren't abusive, not at all. They loved Tanya very much."

Barker reached out to take his glass, thought better of it, and folded his arms across his chest.

"Late one night, after attending a party of some sort, and after making full use of the open bar, they drove head on into an eighteen wheeler. I was told they did not die instantly."

Xander shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

"I guess Tanya didn't cope to well with that."

"What? Oh, no, of course. But she was only nine then. No, her real pain was caused later. Her only relative willing to take her in, an uncle, lived here. Well, near here, in the Cape Flats. I thought, of all four of them, Tanya would be the easiest for me to keep an eye on. I lived near enough to get to her, and I had various… contacts living in the area.

But that wasn't the case. Soon after she moved here, she… well, disappear. I tried for many years to find her; I called in any favors that were owed me, made deals with some less than savory individuals, but nothing was heard and northing was seen of her, until about a year and a half ago."

"When Willow did the spell…"

"Yes. It was purely buy chance. I was flipping through the television channels when I came across a news report. A man had been beaten to death and strung up on a bridge on a farm. Every single bone in his body was broken. I'm not being dramatic. I mean _every single bone_. Except his face. There wasn't a bruise on his face. I recognized him as Tanya's uncle. The reporter mentioned that he had lived in a small house on the grounds of the timber farm. I phoned the news station, and with a little coaxing, got the exact location of the house. I left that night."

Now, barker paused and took a swing of his drink. He looked as if he would rather not be talking about this, but he pushed on.

"The house was small. Almost impossible to find at night, but find it I did. There were no lights, and the door was in splinters, so I let myself in. I called out several times, but got no answer.

Suddenly a blinding light filled the doorway and windows. I heard someone shout in Afrikaans for me to come out with my hands up. I walked out slowly, and saw that the light was being caused by spotlights on two rather large bakkies, uh…, pick-up trucks, I think you call them.

A huge man walked up to me, and asked me what I was doing on his farm. I told him I was looking for a girl, that she was the dead mans nice, and that I was now her guardian. He turned and talked to one of his farm hands in Zulu. A language I'm afraid I have yet to master completely."

A pause. A sip.

"I didn't need to know the language to tell that the farm hands were suddenly very anxious. But the big man seemed to get the information he needed out of them. He walked up to me and told me that she had been seen going into a local shabeen..." He paused at Xander confused look.

"Ah yes, forgive me. It's a bar of sorts. A good place to go if you're in the mood for a fight.

The farmer walked up closer to me, and I could see a look on his face that I could not quite place then. In hindsight, it probable was fear. He pointed me in the direction of the bar, but asked me to reconsider going there. I told him I had been in far worse places than a shabeen. He assured me the shabeen wasn't dangerous, but what I find there might be.

Before I even got to the place, I could tell there had been trouble. Police vans, ambulances, and a fire engine were all crowded around the smoldering remains of the bar. I asked an officer what had happened, and was told that as far as he could tell, a fight between two rival gangs had broken out. Almost everyone was dead. Except two young girls. I asked to see the girls, claiming I was a doctor and wanted to help. He pointed in the general direction of the ambulance and went back to drinking his coffee. As I walked up along the side of the ambulance I head two voices.

One, the weaker of the two voices, was thanking the other. For what exactly, I still don't know. The other voice, Tanya's obviously, told her not to worry about it. Then the other voice asked her a question I was not expecting to hear."

Barker stopped. He looked up at Xander, and then cast his eyes down once more.

"What? What did the girl ask?" Xander urged.

"Why did you have to kill _all_ of them?" Barker recalled, almost to himself.

"Oh" Xander replied softly.

"I felt my blood rush to my head, heard my heart pounding. I didn't want to believe she was capable of it. But of course she was. Who else could have killed her uncle in such a way? While I was contemplating what I should do, I didn't realize that the girls had gone quiet. All of a sudden, Tanya had me by my neck. I had to explain very quickly that I had answers for her, and that I only wanted to help.

I convinced her to come back with me to my house, and explained to her about the slayer, and of the duties she would be expected to perform. At the time, I was unaware of your friends spell, and presumed that she was the new chosen one.

I tried to call Rupert first, as I have had, 'problems' with the Council of late, but I could not get hold of him. I tried a number of watchers whom I had remained friends with, but I could get hold of none."

"Yeah, most of the watchers were either dead or in hiding, and well, the phone reception in Sunnydale has been hell lately." Xander said.

"Indeed." Barker said quietly. "I got into contact with Wesley Price. You know him I understand. He gave me Giles' number told me the basics of what had happened.

Remarkable really. I always knew the council would end in flames. I just never thought I would actually out live it.

I should finish telling you about Tanya. She and I talked for most of the night. Once she realized I did not mean her any harm, she was quite willing to talk about her life. I will not go into the details, but the crux of the matter was this; after she was taken in by her uncle he moved to the farm, and began to abuse her terribly. Physically, mentally… and... he"

Barker stopped talking. His eyes red and strained with repressed emotion. He turned away from Xander in his chair.

Xander took his glass and walked over to the drinks table. He poured Barker more whiskey, and then poured one for himself.

By the time he turned around Barker had composed himself, and was studying a pen intently.

He took the glass with a nod of thanks, and continued.

"I can't begin tell you how much guilt I felt. For the next few days I was consumed with thoughts of 'if onlys ' and 'what ifs'. The poor girl. She tried to comfort me. Can you believe that? But she was my charge, and I had failed her. They were all my charges. As far as I knew, I was the only person qualified to train the slayers in this country. So after I had contacted Giles, and had been made aware of the magnitude of what had happened, she and I began to travel around to find the other slayers. We came to the twins first, and they indeed were chosen. They found out when Amelia slapped a boy at school, and knocked all of his molars out the left side of his jaw. We then found Jo- Ann. She and Tanya became friends immediately.

At that time, I did not imagine there would be more slayers in this country, so we returned to my home, and began training them. As I mentioned, Jo–Ann is very well versed in many martial arts, and I allowed her to take over the physical training. Tanya began to pick up on the physical aspect of being a slayer quickly. She had an aggression in her that I found frightening at times."

"But you knew she had killed people. You didn't think anything should be done about that? "

"Of course I did! But what would you do in my place? No prison could hold her, and from what I had been told, perhaps some of those deaths had been justifiable."

Xander opened his mouth to respond, but Barker cut him off.

"NO! All that could be done from there on was to make sure no more humans were killed. And to try and heal the mental wounds she must have had.

After our first night together, she would not talk about the things she had done before I found her, with one exception. I asked why she did not touch her uncle's face when she killed him. She replied that she wanted to see every expression of pain on his face, as she did what she did to him."

"And that didn't make you think "Psycho"? Xander asked

Barker glared coolly at Xander.

"I was concerned for her, yes. But after a few months, I believed she started to heal. She was friendly with the other three girls, and was fast becoming an exceptional slayer. I took them patrolling many a time. The first time we came across a vampire, she did not even bat an eyelid. Five minutes. That's all it took for her to kill the thing.

I allowed her to go on patrol by herself, as she had wished. Every time she came back, and every time she seemed to be so happy, and so… normal."

"I take it she wasn't?"

Barker sighed.

"After a month, the newspapers started to report about a vigilante killing gangsters, wife beaters, and general scum-of-the-earth types in the Cape Flats. I deliberately left the paper out on the breakfast table, near her seat. As she read the article, I saw her grin. She tried to hide it, but she defiantly had smiled.

I did not want to approach her too soon about my suspicions, so I asked Jo-Ann to follow her for me, and to tell me if she noticed anything strange.

One evening, Jo-Ann called me on her cell. She had been following Tanya, who in turn was tracking a Vampire. Tanya followed it into an abandoned factory. Jo-Ann seemed concerned. She thought it felt like a trap. I told her to follow her, but to stay in the shadows, and only help if needed.

Apparently, by the time Jo got into the factory, Tanya had already killed the vampire. Jo hid on a scaffolding, two or three stories above Tanya, but she could see everything.

From the darkness, around twenty men walked out of the shadows, surrounding her."

"A vampire nest?" Xander asked

"No. No, they were human…" Barker replied. He looked up at Xander and continued;

'_Is heirdie die klien maise wat is besig om my manne dood te maak?_' That's what Jo-Ann told me one of them said. It means, Is this the little girl who's been busy killing my men?"

As soon as Jo heard this, she flung herself down two stories, landed on top of the man who had spoken, and hit him so hard, I'm told he is still in a coma. And then they shot her. Jo-Ann almost died. Tanya was not so lucky. I was told that seven of the men were killed that night. Broken necks. But the few that managed to stay away from Tanya, they… they shot her. Emptied their guns into her, and then picked up their dead friends guns, and emptied those. It was almost impossible to identify the body…"

Barker had gone deathly pale, he had lost his voice, and seemed to be on the verge of having a heart attack.

Xander stood in concern.

"Hey, hey don't do that man, c'mon, deep breaths…"

Barker's eyes met Xander's and with a faint smile, said,

"Don't worry. I'm not dying. Not yet, anyway. It only… the injustice of it all! She was a good child, but… damaged. It was my fault. I trusted her to do the right thing, but someone who goes through what she went through… Do they even know what the right thing is? I…I am sorry Xander. I have got emotional in my old age. You must think I'm a fool."

"No. No I get how you feel. Really. I lost someone to, not too long ago, and I haven't…"

Xander sighed deeply.

"I know how you feel."

The two men sat in silence, for along time, both looking into the glasses of whiskey that neither of them would finish, and listened to the ticking of an antique clock on the wall.

* * *

Well. Didn't that chapter make you wanna rush out and buy a Tracy Chapman CD?

Ok, So I think all the other languages were explained inside the chapter, but to reiterate:

_Shabeen:_ A kind of bar. Usually a rough kinda place, but there are exceptions.

_Bakkies:_ What South Africans call pick-up trucks.


	4. Chapter 4

**-Disclaimer:** You know the drill. I don't own any of the established characters from any of the shows or books mentioned here, they all belong to there respective owners. I'm not making any money of off this, or off anything else actually, so suing me would just be a huge waste of everybody's time.

**Summery:** In an effort to reach more slayers around the world, Xander is sent to South Africa to recruit a number of slayers. It sounds easy enough… and that alone should tell you things aren't going to go smoothly.

**Blood and Sun**

**By StephenDA**

Xander slept in late the next morning. It wasn't jet lag that had got to him, it was Barkers story. It had put him into a very morbid mood, and he had spent most of the night lying in bed, thinking of some of the less fun moments in his life, and of Anya. At around three thirty in the morning, he fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.

At nine o'clock, a light 'tap tap tap' on his door woke him up.

"_Go away go away go away_" He chanted in his head.

Silence…

"Hey, it worked." Xander said out loud.

"OI! GET UP YOU LAZY DOPE!" Shouted Jo-Ann's voice through the door.

Xander grinned to himself.

_Or not _" I'M UP!" he shouted back at the door, as he jumped up out of bed.

A few minutes later, Xander came down stairs to a dining room, packed with young girls.

" Now, I feel at home." He stated, looking around at the girls and remembering the months before the final battle, with a house full of potential slayers.

Jo cocked an eyebrow at him, and handed him a plate.

"Is that so, Mr. Hefner?"

"What? No, that's not what I meant… I, Um," Stuttered Xander

"Be nice to Mister Harris, Jo-Ann. We don't want him to leave just yet." Barker said with a grin, as he entered the room.

Barker and Xander greeted each other a nod of their heads.

"Ok Barker. Sorry _Mr. Harris"_ Jo said with obvious sarcasm, as she smirked and did a curtsy.

Xander grinned at her as she went of to talk to another girl.

He walked up to Barker, who was busy helping himself to some toast at the table.

"Hi. I hope you guys didn't wait for me before you started breakfast."

"No no, The girls prefer to train for a few hours before they eat. Today, perhaps we can introduce you to the girls and give you a tour of our grounds. I know you must want to start looking for slayers, but most of the ones left on your list aren't even in this province, so it will take some preparation."

"That's fine. Hey, actually I was thinking, there has to more slayers through out Africa. Maybe we should look for them to?" Xander replied, before shoving a large piece of toast in his mouth.

Before Barker could answer, one of the younger slayers came up to Xander, and thrust a cup of coffee into his hands.

Xander looked down at her, surprised.

"Hi"

"Hi-my-name-is-Tina-welcome-to-South-Africa-Bye" The girl rattled off in a single breath, before turning red, and running away to rejoin a group of giggling girls.

Xander looked up at Barker, who was smiling.

"It seems you have a fan club." He said.

"As for looking for slayers in other countries, the time will come when we will need to do just that, but don't forget, Africa is a rather large continent. Perhaps, for now, we should stick to looking within our borders."

"Sure. Oh, yeah, there are a couple things I wanted to ask you about, when you have the time." Said Xander.

"Such as?"

"Well, yesterday when you first came out the house, you mentioned that demons and witch doctors were after you and the girls. What's that about? And I noticed that you didn't mention bringers when we were talking yesterday. I mean, they must have come after the girls right? They did everywhere else."

"Well, as far as I know, there were no potentials killed here. By bringers anyway. Giles and I did talk about that. And to be perfectly honest, I haven't got the faintest idea why they never attacked the girls in Africa. As for the other thing, we will discuss that later, around less… sensitive ears." Barker said, motioning behind Xander with his eyes.

Xander turned, to find that Tina and her friends standing less than a foot away from him.

Barker had called all the girls to line up outside after they had eaten. Then he walked down the line introducing the girls to Xander one by one. He felt a little uncomfortable meeting them like this, as if he were some stern general inspecting his troops.

It didn't help that when he got to Jana and Jo and said 'Hi", they both stood to attention, and shouted

"SIR, HI, SIR"

Not many of the names stuck with Xander, but a few did. One, Stacy, reminded him instantly of Kennedy. Cocky, arrogant, and most annoyingly of all, according to Jana, had the skill to back it up.

Another girl that made and impression on him was Elizabeth. She was large, mean looking and reminded Xander of a kid back home that had regularly taken his lunch money in junior high. Which is why he was so surprised to find that she was the shyest of the group.

The last four were the witches Xander was told about. They were a strange mix of women. One looked like the no nonsense business type, with a grey suit, glasses and a sternly pulled back ponytail. Barker introduced her as Vivian, and explained that she is also his lawyer. The next girl was a bohemian flower-child type called Sam who apparently could see into the future. Sometimes. The third was a tall and slender woman called Dumo. She was a witch, but had also been called as a slayer. Not only was she unique in that respect, but she was also the oldest slayer of the group to be called. Twenty Five, to be exact.

Xander found himself to be a stuttering mess in front of her, and decided to move on to the last lady, Emma, Em for short, she told him. She was the leader of the coven, and was the most powerful.

"Nice to meet you." Xander said, holding out his hand.

"Likewise. I've been waiting to meet you all morning!" She exclaimed

"Me? Really? Cool." Xander said, feeling his ego begin to stir a little.

"Yes! You have to tell me about Willow! I studied with the coven that helped her in England. They set aside a whole month for me to learn about her!"

And with that, Xander's ego rolled its eyes and went back to sleep.

"Ah. 'course. So what do you do in Willow Rosenberg, 101?"

"Well, Mostly, its about what _not_ to do. You know, absorb evil energies, and try to end the world. That kind of thing."

"Sure, sure." Xander said, nodding.

"Ya know, I was actually the one that stopped her from ending the world that one time..." He continued.

Before Emma could reply, Barker interrupted.

"Perhaps we could continue this conversation while I show Mr. Harris around the estate."

He turned to Jo-Ann.

"You may begin your training if you like."

"Ja, but if your going into the forests, take Jean and Stacy with you. Their ahead of the class and can afford to miss a practice."

Barker sighed and nodded his head. This was obviously a discussion they had had before, but he didn't seem to want to start a debate.

"All right you sissies! Ten laps around the field! MOVE MOVE!" Jo Shouted as the girls started to jog off one by one. She picked up a stick and made a point of running behind Amelia, poking her every time she slowed down.

Xander and Barker, along with Emma, walked through a field not too far from the house. Stacy was five feet in front of them, while Jean walked a few steps behind the group. Every now and then they could hear Jo's particular brand of encouragement float down through the air behind them.

"How big is this place?" Xander asked.

"Quite large. I'm not sure of the exact size though. You would have to ask Vivian for the details. Actually, I am considering Giles's request that I turn it into the South African branch of the watchers council. There is plenty of room for libraries, training rooms and so on."

"Cool. Did the watchers ever have branches like that before?" Xander asked, the carpenter in him drooling over the possibilities.

"Yes, but not quite on the scale Giles is planning. But, before I can even consider building here, I need to address the problems in the forest. You see, they are… well, infested."

"Termites?" Xander asked.

"Demonic spirits." Emma replied, nonchalantly.

"What? Huh? In these forests? The ones were about to go into?" Xander asked, slightly panicked.

"Scared?" Emma teased.

"Hey, one or two demons, sure. A couple vamps, I can deal with that, but a forest _infested _with demons, nooo way. I aint touching that with a ten yard stick with a slayer strapped on the end."

"Relax Mister Harris. The woods we are entering have been cleared. At any rate, the only ones left are weak sprites that could not cause much harm at all." Barker said calmly.

"Okay. Two questions. One, how the hell did your forest get infested with frikken' demons, and how did you get rid of them?"

"That is another long story. I seem to be telling you a lot of those, and you've only been here for two days." Barker said.

"Well, maybe you can give me the Readers Digest version then." Xander replied, hoping he wouldn't be spending tonight going down morbid memory lane again.

Barker smiled. "I will try to keep it as short as I can. My father was an English man. His whole family had been part of the Watchers Council in one way or another.

He was a Watcher during the Second World War, and, in an unhappy coincidence, a slayer was called right in the midst of the war, in Berlin. Before she had been called, she was the perfect Aryan prototype, and followed Hitler's philosophy as gospel. Needles to say, the Watchers Council was not happy about this. They sent a Watcher into Germany, to try and reason with her, to turn her away from Hitler. She beat him to a pulp, and took him to the SS.

I am sure you have heard the rumors of Hitler' of experimentation with the occult. Well, Hitler's occult projects were born out of the information that was… extracted from the Watcher."

"Whoa" Xander muttered.

"Indeed. So the Watchers had no choice. Their champion was in league with a person that many religious Watchers at that time thought to be the Anti-Christ, and they had inadvertently introduced him to a whole new way to cause terror and death. The Watchers sent a team into Germany, led by my father, too kill the Slayer."

"What!" Xander asked, shocked.

"What do you think they should have done? Wait until she was killed in an air strike? Innocent people were being killed without a Slayer willing to do her job. Anyway, she was staying in Hitler's Eagle Nest in Austria when my father's team got to her. There they found something they were quite unprepared for. There five German officers, and they were performing a ritual. In front of them was a large alter, and a pentagram surrounded by crystals in front of it. We later identified it to be the ritual of Ge' itmar.

It summons a demonic king from another reality, and puts him under the control of the summoner. It is very dark magic, and can only be completed when magically infused blood is willingly given upon the alter."

"Hey, have you read Hellboy?" Xander asked suddenly

"Hell boy?" Barker asked, tilting his head.

"Never mind. Carry on."

"They watched while the officers stood and chanted around the pentagram, and then the slayer walked out of another room, dressed in a white gown. She had a golden dagger in her hand. She lay down on the alter, and when the Germans finished chanting, she stabbed herself in the chest."

"Holy crap. Why would she do that?" Xander asked, shocked.

"Because her Fuhrer asked her to." Barker replied simply.

"A blue energy began to form in the center of the pentagram, and that's when my father gave the order to attack. They killed or knocked out the Germans, and destroyed the pentagram, but not before a small portion of the Demons spirit was through.

I don't know if it was sentient, or just pure evil, but it found my father, and latched on to him. I'm told he was in tremendous pain. The other Watchers completely destroyed the rest of the pentagram, and this seemed to dispel the spirit.

They allowed the slayer to bleed out completely, and when she was dead, they left. A new Slayer was called, and the Watchers got what they wanted."

Barker slowed. They were approaching the mouth of the forest that was growing along the edges of the field. Xander pretended that the sight of the trees didn't creep him out a little, and turned to Barker.

"Well, it's a hell of a story, but I don't get what it has to do with the forests."

"Yes, that comes in act two." He replied, with a humorless smirk.

The two slayers changed positions now, and closely flanked the group on the sides, as they walked into the forest.

"My father was never quite the same when he returned, and soon retired from the Council. He moved here with my mother, who was born South African, and me. I don't remember much from then. I was quite young at the time. What I do know, is that my father changed soon after moving here. He got violent. Drank a lot. I have found countless books on dark magic through out the house since I moved in. The hunting trophies I told you about yesterday? They were the heads of newly born white horses. When I was around 12, I remember he started to spend a lot of time down here, in the forests.

A few years ago, I tracked down the last few surviving workers from that time, and asked them if they had seen anything strange.

They told me that at night they heard horrible noises in the forests, and often saw awful things walking amongst the trees at night. On more than one occasion, a child went missing.

I believe that the thing that latched onto my father in Germany was the, how should I put it, the essence of the demon. A part of what made it _tick_, if you like.

I believe he was summoning demons in the forest, and sacrificing the workers children. In those times, it would have been a fairly easy thing to cover up, the death of a black child." Barker said, shaking his head.

"God, that's... Why was he doing it though?"

"I'm not sure. Emma has some theories though." Barker replied, waving his hand at Emma, inviting her to talk.

"Well, I think that the thing that got hold of his dad planted a seed in him. Not in a creepy X-files kinda way, I mean mentally. Obviously the Nazis wanted this Demon King guy for something big. If they needed power, they already had a slayer, so what's the point in killing her? I think they were making a demonic army, and needed something to control and lead it."

"So the general essence of this demon king wanker burned itself into Barkers dad. And what's a bored demon king to do with all that time on his hands?"

"Build an army." Xander replied. "But if he was doing that, why are they only spirits? Surly he'd want fangs and claws, not rattling chains and bed sheets?"

"I wondered about that as well," Barker carried on. "and I believe that they started of as normal, solid demons. I have found several news paper clippings in the city library about a prisoner's revolt in the mid fifties. Almost four hundred people were killed in one night.

I believe it was my father's demons that were responsible for the massacre.

Then I found a spell in my father's old journal. It gave the user the power to permanently turn anything he wished into incorporeal form. I think that the shock of realizing he was responsible for so much death destroyed whatever hold the demonic essence had on him. He bound the demons to the forest, and then cast the spell. The amount of power that was needed to perform the spell on all of the demons must have been overwhelming. He did not survive. The next week, my mother and I moved back to England. The Watchers Council took us back in, and trained me to become one of them."

"Jeez. And all this when on without you or your mom realizing it?"

"I think my mother knew. She never spoke of him after we returned to England, and she ignored me when ever I brought him up."

Barker stopped talking as he stepped over a large fallen tree trunk. He waited for the others to join him on the other side, before continuing.

"The first time I came into the woods since returning was with Jo-Ann. I wanted to see if the land was suitable to train on. She wondered into the forest, and was confronted by a dozen or so spirits. They didn't hurt her, but they scared her senseless." Said Barker, the sides of his mouth curling into a smile.

Stacy suddenly put her arm out in front of Barker to stop him from walking forward. She and Jean slowly moved forward, pulling out long curved knives.

"I'm sure I saw something in those trees." Stacy whispered.

"I saw it to." Jean affirmed.

"Relax ladies, the girls and I must have missed one of 'em." Emma shouted over to them, causing them to flinch.

"Will you shut up?" Stacy hissed.

"It's ok Stacy. I'm sure Emma is right. They can't hurt you." Barker said calmly.

The two slayers walked back to the group, who were now standing in a patch of sunshine that had pushed trough the treetops. Barker was continuing his story.

"Well, after that, I phoned Emma, whom I had met in Namibia a few years ago. It was then that she told me about Dumo, and I was made aware that there were more slayers in the country. I invited them to the farm, and asked them to help exorcise the forests, and help me find more slayers." Barker said, offering Emma a smile, as if to say, 'thanks'

"And that, as they say, is that." Barker finished.

Xander was just about to open his mouth, when someone interrupted him.

"Good Lord Adrian, but you do love the sound of your own voice, don't you?"

They all turned around in surprise, and the two slayers took fighting stances. Barker pushed through them, and stood staring in disbelief.

"Mother?"

* * *

Well, there ya go. I know there has been a lot of talking, but this will be the last chapter like this for a while. From here on in, its ass kicking's, witty remarks, spell casting and six different flavors of violence!

Oh, WiccanSlayer, a fellow South African, pointed out that I didn't tell you guys what "Sommer" meant. Hmmm. It's kind of a hard one to explain. I don't think there is an outright equivalent for it in international English. "Just because" would be a good way to think of it, for example:

Q: why did you beat that man's head in with a frozen leg of lamb?

A: Just sommer.

See? But there are a couple different ways to use the word.


	5. Chapter 5

**-Disclaimer:** You know the drill. I don't own any of the established characters from any of the shows or books mentioned here, they all belong to there respective owners. I'm not making any money of off this, or off anything else actually, so suing me would just be a huge waste of everybody's time.

**Summery:** In an effort to reach more slayers around the world, Xander is sent to South Africa to recruit a number of slayers. It sounds easy enough… and that alone should tell you things aren't going to go smoothly.

**Blood and Sun**

**By StephenDA**

"Mother?" Barker whispered, his voice husky with disbelieve.

There, about six feet away from the group stood an attractive woman, of about thirty five. She leaned against a tree, with her arms crossed.

"That's your Mom? You didn't age to well Barker." Xander quipped.

As Barker took a step forward, Emma ran up and stood in front of him, placing her hands on his chest, to stop him from getting closer.

"No! You know it's not her, Barker. She's dead. It's a demon, or some kind of spell! Use your head!" She snapped at him.

Barker slowly looked down at her. He seemed to be in a daze. "Yes. Yes of course. I'm sorry. It's just, she looks so much like her…" Barker muttered, his voice trailing off.

"I know. Come on, let's go. It's just some spirit. I'll come down with the others later and get rid of it." She said, turning Barker and moving him away, putting a protective arm around his shoulder.

"Umm, excuse me?" An irritated voice behind them snapped.

They turned, and found themselves face to face with Barkers mother.

"Little Girl…" The woman sneered, and grabbed Emma by the hair on the top of her head, "I am no demon, no spell, and I am quite solid." She pulled Emma's head close up to her own face, grinned, and thrust her hand forward, sending Emma flying backwards.

Xander lunged to his left, and caught the woman, but the force at which she was thrown pushed Xander backwards. He tripped over a rock, stumbled backwards, and hit his head on a low tree branch.

Barker turned to the thing that looked like his mother, a look of horror on his face.

"Who are you?" he said weakly.

"Who am I?" The woman said with a smile, and strutted up to him.

"My name is Julia Barker." Her hand shot out, and grabbed him by his shirts collar, and hoisted him above her head like he was a rag doll.

"But you can call me Mummy."

Before she could do any thing to him, Stacy ran forward, bent low, and tackled the woman, plunging her shoulder into the stomach of Barkers mother.

At the same time Stacy made contact, Jean came running out from the right, having circled around the group the minute the woman had grabbed Emma. She jumped into the air, over Stacy and grabbed Barker, while managing to plant a kick squarely on the face on Julia Barker.

Julia landed hard on her head, and seemed to be knocked unconscious.

Stacy stood up and dusted her pants clean. She looked over at Jean, who was helping Barker up. She grinned at her.

"That was cool." She said.

Jean looked over, grinning, and then her eyes went wide. "LOOK OUT!" she screamed at Stacy.

Julia had risen behind Stacy, and before she could turn to face her, Julia, delivered a roundhouse kick to the side of Stacy's head, knocking her to the floor, a pool of blood from the back of her head beginning to stain the soil on the forest floor.

"No!" Barker shouted, and ran forward.

He was stopped by Jean, who shoved him towards Stacy.

"Get them out of here." She said, her voice dripping with anger.

She pulled out her knife, and adopted a fighting stance, waiting for her opponent to make the first move.

Barker had moved Stacy over to Xander and Emma, who were starting to regain consciousness.

Julia and Jean began to circle each other.

Jean was crouching low, not wanting to be taken by surprise, while Julia seemed to be very amused, and was almost skipping. Finally, Jean had had enough, and attacked, her knife raised for a killing blow.

Slowly, almost effortlessly, Julia grabbed Jeans knife hand, and danced behind the slayer.

She had both of Jeans hands now, and seemed to be holding her in a loving embrace from behind, making Jeans own hands meet at her chest. Julia held onto Jean's knife hand so hard, Xander heard her finger bones breaking.

He got up on one knee, trying to clear his vision. What he saw, when his eye regained focus, was Julia holding Jean in front of him. Julia was fighting back tears, and was breathing hard.

Then, slowly, Julia twisted and pulled Jeans knife, placing it across her own throat.

"Oh God ..." Xander whispered

"…no" finished Jean weakly.

Then, in one quick and fluid movement, Julia forced Jean to cut her own throat.

She flung her to the floor distastefully, and grinned at Xander.

"See you soon" She said, before walking back into the forest.


	6. Chapter 6

**-Disclaimer:** You know the drill. I don't own any of the established characters from any of the shows or books mentioned here, they all belong to there respective owners. I'm not making any money of off this, or off anything else actually, so suing me would just be a huge waste of everybody's time.

**Summery:** In an effort to reach more slayers around the world, Xander is sent to South Africa to recruit a number of slayers. It sounds easy enough… and that alone should tell you things aren't going to go smoothly.

**Blood and Sun**

**By StephenDA**

"For God's sake! HELP ME!!" Screamed Stacy to a group of young slayers who were sitting in the shade after their morning work out.

They looked up and each gave a startled gasp. Stacy was half running, half limping, towards them, with Jean's lifeless body slung across her arms.

One of the smaller girls ran to the house.

It had taken Xander ten painfully long seconds to realize that Jean wasn't dead yet, and was quietly choking on her own blood. He called out to Stacy, who seemed understand immediately. She scooped Jean up and clumsily set of towards the house.

Now, as she neared the group of girls, Dumo and Jo burst out from the front door of the house. The little girl that had ran in followed at a safe distance.

Stacy fell to her knees in front of Dumo, and laid Jean out on the grass before her like an offering.

"Please… please help." She whispered, not looking at anyone.

Dumo immediately felt for a pulse. Then she placed her hand over Jeans neck, and closed her eyes, murmuring in Latin. Slowly, she looked up at Jo, and shook her head.

Seeing this, Stacy slowly stood, and disappeared behind the large Oak tree near the house.

The girls stared at the body on they ground before them, but didn't say a word.

Dumo gently closed Jeans half open eyelids. She stood and looked at Jo expectantly.

Jo was about to say something when she noticed Barker, Xander and Emma slowly making their way up towards them.

"Get the girls inside" She ordered Dumo.

As Dumo ushered the girls inside, Jo ran down to meet Barker.

"What the hell happened down there?"

Barker didn't say a word. He just walked past her, on towards Jeans body.

"Jo. A little help?" Xander asked from behind her.

He was supporting Emma, who was semi-conscious and bleeding from her hairline.

"Sorry." She grabbed Emma's left arm and slung it over her shoulder, taking most of the weight of Xander.

"I'll explain everything in a minute, let's just get inside first. I don't think it's too safe out here." Xander told Jo before she could ask anything.

They passed Barker, who was now kneeling next to Jean's body and seemed to be preying silently. He reached over and picked off an ant that had wondered onto Jeans pale cheek, then slowly and painfully, he picked up the dead girls body, and followed Xander and Jo.

As Xander was walking into the house, he heard Stacy throwing up behind the Oak tree.

* * *

Xander sat in the kitchen and held on tightly to a cup of coffee. He wanted to throw it at the wall, and would have, but Jo and seven of the older Slayers came in.

"Barker put Jean in his room. He's phoning her dad now. God. I dunno what he's planning on telling him." Jo said. "Give me that before you break it." She added, taking away his cup.

Xander began to explain everything that happened. The girls had remained stone faced and impassive for most of the story, but when he told them how Jean's throat was slit, their faces darkened, and Jana began to cry silently.

"What was that thing then? And what do we do about it?" Asked Jana.

"I'll tell you what we do. We go in there and we beat it to death, that's what we do." Came Stacy's voice from the doorway.

"_Jissus_, girl, look at you." Said one of the slayers whose name Xander couldn't recall.

Stacy was a horrible sight. The blood from Jeans throat had sprayed up across her face while she ran, and her own blood from her head wound had dried and stuck her hair down along the side of her face.

"Lets clean you up, and then we can figure out what to do." Jana said softly.

"No, I … I need to…"

"Later Stacy. Go get cleaned up. I'm not asking." Ordered Jo.

Jana and Elizabeth came up to her and gently moved her away towards the stairs.

Jo looked at the empty doorway, and asked "Where is Emma?"

"Dumo and the other witches took her upstairs. Said they were going to try and heal her. That bitch almost scalped her." Xander replied.

Jo sighed, and looked at the group. "This place isn't safe anymore. I'm going to make some calls." Jo said.

She turned to another girl and said, "Talk to the others, if they have places to stay, they need to get there. I'll make arrangements for the others."

"You're just going to leave? Not even try and fight this thing?" asked a tall girl.

"Of course we are! But we need to re-group. Figure out what we're dealing with, and… and bury Jean. We can't just stay here and wait to be attacked."

"Shouldn't Barker be the one to make that decision?" asked Amelia.

"Damn it girl! Don't start with me. Just do what I say, and go phone your parents." Jo hissed.

Amelia raised her hands, showing she didn't want to fight, and left the room. A second later the other Slayers followed her out.

Jo sat down next to Xander and rested her head on her hands.

"We should have been prepared for this." She said. "After all that's been going on in the past few weeks..."

She slammed her hands down on the table, and swore out loud in Afrikaans.

"So … what has exactly been going on? Barker mentioned that you've been under attack?"

"Ja. Started of small, a couple vampires ambushed some of the girls in a mall a few nights ago. Newbies. Obviously never gone up against anything like a slayer before, let alone a group of them. Then the nasties kept getting bigger and meaner. Barker realised that the attacks seemed to be related, so we set a trap. I was walking along the beach front, while five others tailed me. After and hour or so, a witch doctor made an appearance. He started shaking his staff at me and chanting something. Must have started working, because I began to feel light headed."

"What did you do?" Xander asked.

"Kicked him in the head." She replied simply.

"Ah. Simple, effective. I like it." He replied with a grin.

"We brought him back here to try and get some answers from him, but no matter how much we scared him and threatened him, he wouldn't say a word. I was just about to make good on my promise to remove him from his manhood, when Barker asked to be alone with him."

Xander, who had unconsciously crossed his legs after hearing about Jo's unique interrogation methods, nodded.

"Watchers seem to be good at getting people to give up information."

"Ja. Five minutes later we knew who was behind the attacks. The perfect symbol of evil, in my opinion."

"Who was it?" Xander asked.

"A law firm. Wolfram and Hart"


End file.
